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If $100 really mattered,then the WiiU would be $100 cheaper than the PS4,therefore,using some peoples logic here, the WiiU should outsell the PS4,and the PS4 has no chance.... except that's not how it works.

 

Selling a nextgen console is going to be a tough tough sell. You are not going to be able to sell your box just by using better graphics as your selling point. That may have worked from the xbox/ps2 days, when we were transitioning to HDTV,and HD console gaming was going to take advantage of this. But today? How are you going to get the general consumer to drop $400-$500 on a console with "better graphics"? Especially when the last gen stuff can be had for a fraction of the cost,play gaming in HD,and have massive software libraries? Nobody is dropping that kind of money for "better graphics" unless there is more to it.

If $100 really mattered,then the WiiU would be $100 cheaper than the PS4,therefore,using some peoples logic here, the WiiU should outsell the PS4,and the PS4 has no chance.... except that's not how it works.

 

Selling a nextgen console is going to be a tough tough sell. You are not going to be able to sell your box just by using better graphics as your selling point. That may have worked from the xbox/ps2 days, when we were transitioning to HDTV,and HD console gaming was going to take advantage of this. But today? How are you going to get the general consumer to drop $400-$500 on a console with "better graphics"? Especially when the last gen stuff can be had for a fraction of the cost,play gaming in HD,and have massive software libraries? Nobody is dropping that kind of money for "better graphics" unless there is more to it.

 

+1000....

I keep saying it over and over again... once you get to $400+ you better show me more, more, more... The games are a given.... what else can it do once it gets to that price point...

 

I know some are going to say, "Throwing $$$, at something doesn't always work"

And I say, "As long as you got the $$$, you keep throwing until you become a winner"

lol if you think people don't like better gfx then you are mistaken.

 

People do like better graphics. That's true

 

But... this is a BIG BUT....

If the graphics are not that big a difference between the 2 & and the EXPERIENCE is WAY better on the XB1....

 

$500 will no longer matter, and their will be a ton of backlash against the $400 box...

lol if you think people don't like better gfx then you are mistaken.

 

The average person out there couldn't care less. Go out on the street (or even go to a Game store) and ask people what the visible difference between 60fps and 30fps are. 99% wont be able to tell you.

The average person out there couldn't care less. Go out on the street (or even go to a Game store) and ask people what the visible difference between 60fps and 30fps are. 99% wont be able to tell you.

 

People who could not care less are not likely to spend 500$ on a video game console.

 

I personally highly doubt Joe Blow will buy a One at full price for the TV things and The Cloud eXperience. I might be wrong though.

 

Most people who will buy a One and/or a PS4 in the first year or two are gamers. And i'm sad to say most of them care about their exclusive games and gfx a lot. People who doesn't care will buy the One or PS4 when they will be reduced in price and when devs will stop supporting the 360 and PS3. And by then the trend will probably be clear and we will already be deep thru the generation.

 

Games, graphics and the price point are important. This is what drive people to buy a console. Now i'm not saying the One wont have good gfx. I'm sure both consoles will have approx the same gfx power. Next generation will likely be a draw like the current one. I just highly doubt the TV things and the cloud will play as big of a role as some people think it will.

 

I could very well be totally wrong but to me it all boils down to the exclusive games and the gfx. Again could be wrong but i don't think devs (EA, Activision, Ubi) will lose too much time supporting the cloud for multiplatform titles unless the One takes a comfortable lead using outstanding exclusive titles and gfx. Microsoft will need to show them the way by making cool things with the cloud and with Kinect and giving people a reason to spend 500$ on the One. I'm sorry but so far we have not really seen this at E3. One lineup was strong but it did not convince me the cloud and kinect did worth 100$. PS4 lineup was good too.

There's more to a game then just the graphics, and at this point we're not seeing large jumps in graphics like we used to.  I'd take some good gameplay with a specific visual twist than just flat out pretty textures and boring gameplay.   Look at BF4, then look at BF3.  Tell me there's enough of a difference graphically between the two, because I don't see it.   And that's arguably the best looking game so far.

I never said nobody likes better graphics. What I said was, are people willing to spend $400-$500 just for better graphics?

 

So taking the cloud stuff away it is all just about graphics?

 

What about enhanced CPU power and RAM?  What about better physics, game mechanics, and more?  It is NOT just about graphics.  What about a game 3 years down the line that you want to play?  It will be a next-gen exclusive probably.  So you will need a new console to play it.

 

I do not care one bit about all of this cloud stuff or Kinect or everything else.  I like the new graphics, new power for other game mechanics as well.  Plus, there will be games I want to play that are PS4/XBox One exclusive.

So taking the cloud stuff away it is all just about graphics?

 

What about enhanced CPU power and RAM?  What about better physics, game mechanics, and more?  It is NOT just about graphics.  What about a game 3 years down the line that you want to play?  It will be a next-gen exclusive probably.  So you will need a new console to play it.

 

I do not care one bit about all of this cloud stuff or Kinect or everything else.  I like the new graphics, new power for other game mechanics as well.  Plus, there will be games I want to play that are PS4/XBox One exclusive.

 

I think you're actually backing what he's saying.  He said it's not just about better graphics.  Games have to offer more than just better visuals.  You can have a great looking game but if gameplay isn't good, the story is generic, then it's not worth it.   Also, prettier looking games alone are not going to keep the console market going.  As much as some want to deny it, the hardcore gaming market is pretty much what it is, and that isn't all that huge.   After all these years on the market look at how many systems the 3 main players have sold, now compare that to anything else out there that also plays games but at a more casual level, and it's a huge difference.

 

The only way you can grow it and sell more than just ~100million units after 7+ years on the market, is to offer more than just games.  They know that, even the game developers know that which is why you don't see anything close to the level of 3rd party exclusivity we used to get back in the PS2 days.     Gamers will just think about their own thing, they want more of the games they like and care about little else.  But the companies can't keep dropping billions into these devices and only come out selling tens of millions when they have to sell hundreds of millions.   Why else has the 360 and PS3 generation lasted so long compared to what we used to have?  They're going to bleed the hardware they have to the last drop in the hopes of making a good enough profit to keep this going.

 

Everyone wants to target a broader audience now, Nintendo started it with the Wii and grabbing up the casuals to initial success,  MS and even Sony have seen how it helps to do more than just core gaming.  It seems it's only the core gamers that don't see it.

I think you're actually backing what he's saying.  He said it's not just about better graphics.  Games have to offer more than just better visuals.  You can have a great looking game but if gameplay isn't good, the story is generic, then it's not worth it.   Also, prettier looking games alone are not going to keep the console market going.  As much as some want to deny it, the hardcore gaming market is pretty much what it is, and that isn't all that huge.   After all these years on the market look at how many systems the 3 main players have sold, now compare that to anything else out there that also plays games but at a more casual level, and it's a huge difference.

 

The only way you can grow it and sell more than just ~100million units after 7+ years on the market, is to offer more than just games.  They know that, even the game developers know that which is why you don't see anything close to the level of 3rd party exclusivity we used to get back in the PS2 days.     Gamers will just think about their own thing, they want more of the games they like and care about little else.  But the companies can't keep dropping billions into these devices and only come out selling tens of millions when they have to sell hundreds of millions.   Why else has the 360 and PS3 generation lasted so long compared to what we used to have?  They're going to bleed the hardware they have to the last drop in the hopes of making a good enough profit to keep this going.

 

I think he was trying to say hardware is important but not only for graphics, but for game physics and engine mechanics and that it becomes more important in a few years time when game developers are able to push games further than now.

 

The PS3 generation has lasted 7 years, the PS2 was 6 years and the PS1 was 6 years. One year extra isn't much of a difference. 

 

 

I think he was trying to say hardware is important but not only for graphics, but for game physics and engine mechanics and that it becomes more important in a few years time when game developers are able to push games further than now.

 

The PS3 generation has lasted 7 years, the PS2 was 6 years and the PS1 was 6 years. One year extra isn't much of a difference. 

 

 

Well, not really, going back and looking at it again every playstation has been on the market for 9 years to date, well, the PS3 will be since Sony isn't going to stop making PS3s when they ship PS4s.   Either way, 9-10 years for consoles on the market is now the norm really, and even then look at the sales numbers.   It took the PS1 over 9 years to sell 100million+ units.   It's taken the PS2 that much to sell 150million when it was the monopoly console on the market.    If you had those kind of sales numbers of units in any other of the device markets that also sell games and people play games on, they'd be considered flops.    My point is that they have to make them able to do more than just core gaming so they can expand their markets.  The costs of R&D aren't going down, the costs of gaming, AAA titles, isn't going down either, hell it's been going up. 

 

These guys need to be selling hundreds of millions of units before they're taken off the market,  instead if they just target core gamers then as the numbers show they're fighting over a small market of 100m to maybe 200million worldwide.   Keeping in mind that people buy multiple systems and also that they buy replacements or the newer redesign to replace the old one.   That's honestly not that big of a market for something that's being sold close to 10 years.

Well, not really, going back and looking at it again every playstation has been on the market for 9 years to date, well, the PS3 will be since Sony isn't going to stop making PS3s when they ship PS4s.   Either way, 9-10 years for consoles on the market is now the norm really, and even then look at the sales numbers.   It took the PS1 over 9 years to sell 100million+ units.   It's taken the PS2 that much to sell 150million when it was the monopoly console on the market.    If you had those kind of sales numbers of units in any other of the device markets that also sell games and people play games on, they'd be considered flops.    My point is that they have to make them able to do more than just core gaming so they can expand their markets.  The costs of R&D aren't going down, the costs of gaming, AAA titles, isn't going down either, hell it's been going up. 

 

These guys need to be selling hundreds of millions of units before they're taken off the market,  instead if they just target core gamers then as the numbers show they're fighting over a small market of 100m to maybe 200million worldwide.   Keeping in mind that people buy multiple systems and also that they buy replacements or the newer redesign to replace the old one.   That's honestly not that big of a market for something that's being sold close to 10 years.

 

Even shelf life wise as you mentioned the difference is still 1 year.

 

Also you do realize that every PlayStation has sold more copies than any Xbox.

 

1PlayStation 2 (PS2)53.6555.2823.1825.57157.682Nintendo DS (DS)57.1652.0733.0112.43154.673Game Boy (GB)43.1840.0532.472.99118.694PlayStation (PS)38.9436.9119.369.04104.255Wii (Wii)44.7333.2312.739.2899.976Game Boy Advance (GBA)40.3921.3116.962.8581.517PlayStation Portable (PSP)21.3223.4819.7814.7679.348PlayStation 3 (PS3)26.8131.209.3610.7178.089Xbox 360 (X360)44.1624.351.647.6477.7910Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)33.498.3019.350.7761.9111Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)22.888.1517.170.9049.1012Nintendo 64 (N64)20.116.355.540.9332.9313Nintendo 3DS (3DS)9.788.7411.762.0132.2914Sega Genesis (GEN)16.988.393.580.5929.5415Atari 2600 (2600)23.543.350.000.7527.6416Xbox (XB)15.777.170.531.1824.65

 

Targeting core gamers has worked for Sony, it also does all the media side of things except it doesn't have a TV input so you can watch your tv shows through it. I honestly don't see the point of that feature, my TV has a tuner so I can watch TV on it. My tv also does suggestions, hand gesture controls and voice controls. (All of the new Samsung range do actually)

 

The only upside to the Xbox One I can see is the Kinect features only.

Even shelf life wise as you mentioned the difference is still 1 year.

 

Also you do realize that every PlayStation has sold more copies than any Xbox.

 

1PlayStation 2 (PS2)53.6555.2823.1825.57157.682Nintendo DS (DS)57.1652.0733.0112.43154.673Game Boy (GB)43.1840.0532.472.99118.694PlayStation (PS)38.9436.9119.369.04104.255Wii (Wii)44.7333.2312.739.2899.976Game Boy Advance (GBA)40.3921.3116.962.8581.517PlayStation Portable (PSP)21.3223.4819.7814.7679.348PlayStation 3 (PS3)26.8131.209.3610.7178.089Xbox 360 (X360)44.1624.351.647.6477.7910Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)33.498.3019.350.7761.9111Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)22.888.1517.170.9049.1012Nintendo 64 (N64)20.116.355.540.9332.9313Nintendo 3DS (3DS)9.788.7411.762.0132.2914Sega Genesis (GEN)16.988.393.580.5929.5415Atari 2600 (2600)23.543.350.000.7527.6416Xbox (XB)15.777.170.531.1824.65

 

Targeting core gamers has worked for Sony, it also does all the media side of things except it doesn't have a TV input so you can watch your tv shows through it. I honestly don't see the point of that feature, my TV has a tuner so I can watch TV on it. My tv also does suggestions, hand gesture controls and voice controls. (All of the new Samsung range do actually)

 

The only upside to the Xbox One I can see is the Kinect features only.

 

I'm not making this a pissing contest over who sells more than who, I don't care.  You're kinda sidestepping my point.  Look at the numbers you're posting for the different systems, life to date unit sales.   At best we have a bit over 150million, and that was for the PS2 which had the market all to itself after Nintendo dropped the ball and the Xbox came in late and was new.   After all these years on the market and you don't have one system that goes over 200million.  That just proves my point that the "gamer" market is small, it is what it is, 100m to at best 200 million because as I've said people buy multiple systems and or replacements and redesigns at cheaper prices.

 

It's small, if it was any smaller it'd be thought of as niche.  With R&D costs going up, game development costs going up, they need to sell more than 100million after 10 years.   They know this, both Sony and MS.  They're pushing them as all around media hubs now, more and more.   The PS1 doubled as a CD player, the PS2 was a cheap DVD player at the time.  The PS3 was also marketed as the best BD player at the time.    It's not hard to see that they all want to get more people to buy these than have been.  Right now all they're doing is splitting a small market when they would love nothing more than to sell to everyone, not just gamers.

Even shelf life wise as you mentioned the difference is still 1 year.

 

Also you do realize that every PlayStation has sold more copies than any Xbox.

 

1PlayStation 2 (PS2)53.6555.2823.1825.57157.682Nintendo DS (DS)57.1652.0733.0112.43154.673Game Boy (GB)43.1840.0532.472.99118.694PlayStation (PS)38.9436.9119.369.04104.255Wii (Wii)44.7333.2312.739.2899.976Game Boy Advance (GBA)40.3921.3116.962.8581.517PlayStation Portable (PSP)21.3223.4819.7814.7679.348PlayStation 3 (PS3)26.8131.209.3610.7178.089Xbox 360 (X360)44.1624.351.647.6477.7910Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)33.498.3019.350.7761.9111Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)22.888.1517.170.9049.1012Nintendo 64 (N64)20.116.355.540.9332.9313Nintendo 3DS (3DS)9.788.7411.762.0132.2914Sega Genesis (GEN)16.988.393.580.5929.5415Atari 2600 (2600)23.543.350.000.7527.6416Xbox (XB)15.777.170.531.1824.65

 

 

right...vgchartz. you know the ones who are always way off,especially with xbox360 numbers,until Microsoft releases official numbers, then vgchartz adjusts them.. every single time. and 0.2% difference doesn't matter as much as xbox360 slaughtering the rest in software and accessories sales.

right...vgchartz. you know the ones who are always way off,especially with xbox360 numbers,until Microsoft releases official numbers, then vgchartz adjusts them.. every single time. and 0.2% difference doesn't matter as much as xbox360 slaughtering the rest in software and accessories sales.

 

Weekly data may be a calculated guess at VGChartz but anything older that that and the data is directly from the NPD.

 

I'm not making this a ****ing contest over who sells more than who, I don't care.  You're kinda sidestepping my point.  Look at the numbers you're posting for the different systems, life to date unit sales.   At best we have a bit over 150million, and that was for the PS2 which had the market all to itself after Nintendo dropped the ball and the Xbox came in late and was new.   After all these years on the market and you don't have one system that goes over 200million.  That just proves my point that the "gamer" market is small, it is what it is, 100m to at best 200 million because as I've said people buy multiple systems and or replacements and redesigns at cheaper prices.

 

It's small, if it was any smaller it'd be thought of as niche.  With R&D costs going up, game development costs going up, they need to sell more than 100million after 10 years.   They know this, both Sony and MS.  They're pushing them as all around media hubs now, more and more.   The PS1 doubled as a CD player, the PS2 was a cheap DVD player at the time.  The PS3 was also marketed as the best BD player at the time.    It's not hard to see that they all want to get more people to buy these than have been.  Right now all they're doing is splitting a small market when they would love nothing more than to sell to everyone, not just gamers.

 

If the PS2 was released in 2000, Dreamcast in 1999, Xbox in 2001. So because Dreamcast was a flop and Xbox released 1 year later than means the PS2 had no competition?

That would mean the X360 had no competition because the PS3 was released a year later, yet the PS3 still managed to sell more.

 

The Console gamer market bought almost 300 Million consoles this generation, the gamer market isn't getting smaller it was 230 Million the generation before. (Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube).

Its only getting bigger and they don't just make money off the hardware sales anymore.

 

 

Weekly data may be a calculated guess at VGChartz but anything older that that and the data is directly from the NPD.

 

 

If the PS2 was released in 2000, Dreamcast in 1999, Xbox in 2001. So because Dreamcast was a flop and Xbox released 1 year later than means the PS2 had no competition?

That would mean the X360 had no competition because the PS3 was released a year later, yet the PS3 still managed to sell more.

 

The Console gamer market bought almost 300 Million consoles this generation, the gamer market isn't getting smaller it was 230 Million the generation before. (Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube).

Its only getting bigger and they don't just make money off the hardware sales anymore.

 

 

Yes the PS2 had no competition, look at it's library, it had more games than any other system in that generation and had way more 3rd party support and exclusives than at any other time.   Also look at the Xbox, Dreamcast and Gamecube numbers, they pale in comparison to the 150+million the PS2 sold.  That, my friend, is not having any competition.

 

And this generations numbers are boosted by the Wii, most of the Wiis sales were to casuals, it's where it made it's big success, and now why we see the WiiU flopping, because the casuals are fine with the Wii and don't feel the need to upgrade yet again, or anytime soon, to the WiiU just for some better graphics.   Out of the that lots of people also buy the same systems, lots have a PS3 and a 360, or they buy more than one, I know some who have 2 or more 360s or have gotten another PS3 etc.   There's also those who get the new redesigns.   I got the newer 360 S and gave my original 360 to my sister.  So out of the 80million 360s sold to date I count for 2.  Others more and the same works for the PS3.  That all helps to inflate the numbers since it's not a true 1 to 1 sale.

Even shelf life wise as you mentioned the difference is still 1 year.

 

Also you do realize that every PlayStation has sold more copies than any Xbox.

 

1PlayStation 2 (PS2)53.6555.2823.1825.57157.682Nintendo DS (DS)57.1652.0733.0112.43154.673Game Boy (GB)43.1840.0532.472.99118.694PlayStation (PS)38.9436.9119.369.04104.255Wii (Wii)44.7333.2312.739.2899.976Game Boy Advance (GBA)40.3921.3116.962.8581.517PlayStation Portable (PSP)21.3223.4819.7814.7679.348PlayStation 3 (PS3)26.8131.209.3610.7178.089Xbox 360 (X360)44.1624.351.647.6477.7910Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)33.498.3019.350.7761.9111Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)22.888.1517.170.9049.1012Nintendo 64 (N64)20.116.355.540.9332.9313Nintendo 3DS (3DS)9.788.7411.762.0132.2914Sega Genesis (GEN)16.988.393.580.5929.5415Atari 2600 (2600)23.543.350.000.7527.6416Xbox (XB)15.777.170.531.1824.65

 

Targeting core gamers has worked for Sony, it also does all the media side of things except it doesn't have a TV input so you can watch your tv shows through it. I honestly don't see the point of that feature, my TV has a tuner so I can watch TV on it. My tv also does suggestions, hand gesture controls and voice controls. (All of the new Samsung range do actually)

 

The only upside to the Xbox One I can see is the Kinect features only.

What are you going on about? Everything I've seen you post has been false.

http://news.xbox.com/2013/05/x360-april-npd

 

I know this is US only, but its been the best selling console there for 28months.

Yes the PS2 had no competition, look at it's library, it had more games than any other system in that generation and had way more 3rd party support and exclusives than at any other time.   Also look at the Xbox, Dreamcast and Gamecube numbers, they pale in comparison to the 150+million the PS2 sold.  That, my friend, is not having any competition.

 

So the PS2 had no competition cause it was a lot better than the Xbox?

 

What are you going on about? Everything I've seen you post has been false.

http://news.xbox.com/2013/05/x360-april-npd

 

I know this is US only, but its been the best selling console there for 28months.

 

You are clearly deluded then. PS3 has sold more units globally than the X360 have, im not limiting myself to one market (US).. If I was to do that I might as well check which sold better in Ethiopia and than say that console sold more units... it just doesn't work like that.

You are clearly deluded then. PS3 has sold more units globally than the X360 have, im not limiting myself to one market (US).

Sauce me.

If you link me to the homepage of VGChartz, I think I will actually cry.

  • Like 2

So the PS2 had no competition cause it was a lot better than the Xbox?

 

 

You are clearly deluded then. PS3 has sold more units globally than the X360 have, im not limiting myself to one market (US).

I think you are splitting hairs. He clearly means that PS2 had no meaningful competition. Xbox was as much a competitor as Mac or Linux is to Windows or Windows Phone is to iOS/Android. I still remember walking into gamestop in those days and Xbox+games were limited to an ignored corner in them. The PS2 game library was simply unbeatable compared to Xbox.

I think you are splitting hairs. He clearly means that PS2 had no meaningful competition. Xbox was as much a competitor as Mac or Linux is to Windows or Windows Phone is to iOS/Android.

 

Define why it wasn't a meaningful competitor to the PS2. Because the comment you quoted was a question and he says the PS2 has no competition cause it had better games, better content and third party support. Doesn't that make the console better?

Well as someone in the UK and Europe, No I wont be buying. Not at launch price. Im sorry but for the asking price of ?430 I could build a nice wee mini gaming PC. Maybe once ther hardware is sub ?300, i.e nearer ?250-275 and I,ll consider one.

I know most folk are like WTF Pc you going to build for that money. But im thinking some 2nd hand bits and a small form Shuttle barebones system or something.

Mind you for ?430 the power house of a card I could buy for my current PC and still have money left for a leap motion means I,ll probs go that path for now and enjoy games on that.

Maybe once XB1 and PS4 start to see there 2nd gen of software I,ll start to get involved more.

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    • TerraMaster F4-425 Pro review: an octa-core Intel NAS that ships with AI (OpenClaw) by Steven Parker It has been a while since I reviewed a TerraMaster NAS, but the company reached out to me asking if I was willing to test the F4-425 Pro, which goes on sale today. It is an upgrade on the F4-425 Plus, which I reviewed back in October 2025 What you need to know is that it basically follows the design principles of the four-bay F4-425 series, with its all-metal exterior. Here are the most important specifications: TerraMaster F4-425 Pro CPU Intel Core N350 (8x E Cores/Threads, Max burst up to 3.9 GHz) Intel Core N305 (4x E Cores/Threads, Max burst up to 3.8 GHz) TDP: 7W / 9W (Base) Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 32 EUs (1.35 GHz) Intel UHD Graphics 24 EUs (1.25 GHz) Memory 1x slot 16 GB DDR5 4800MT/s non ECC SODIMM (Max 32 GB) 1x slot 8 GB DDR5 4800MT/s non ECC SODIMM (Max 32 GB) Disk Capacity 120 TB (30 TB x 4) Supported RAID Types TRAID, TRAID +, RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID 6, RAID 10 Network 2x RJ-45 5 GbE Internal storage 3x M.2 2280 NVMe Slot (PCIe 3.0 x1) Bootloader 2Gbit 256 GB NAND Flash card (MX30LF2G28AD) USB port (internal) USB Ports 1x Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) 3x Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) HDMI 1x (HDMI) Hardware Transcoding Engine H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, VC-1 Maximum resolution: 4K (4096 x 2160); Maximum FPS: 60 Size (H/W/D) 219 x 181 x 150 mm Weight 2.9 kg System Fan 150 x181 x 219 mm Power 90W, 100V - 240V AC, 50/60 Hz, Single frequency Power consumption (HDDs) 45W (4x 4TB ST4000VN008 in read/write state) 14W (4x 4TB ST4000VN008 in hibernation) Noise Level: 20.9 dB(A) Using 4 SATA HDDs/SSDs in standby mode; Test environment noise: 17.3dB(A); Test distance: 1m Warranty 2 Years OS TOS 7.0.0706 (Beta) MSRP £639.99, $699.99, €739.99 / £739.99, $799.99, €839.99 As you can see above, there are two variants of the F4-425 Pro releasing today. The lesser variant has the slightly weaker N305 CPU and iGP, and 8 GB less RAM, although it also costs $100 less than the top variant we are testing today. In addition, these new F4-425 Pros are shipped with the as-yet-unreleased TOS 7 beta. So what is TOS 7 exactly? During the device initialization, you are warned not to use it in a production environment, which we'll get into later. My contact told me that TOS 7 exits beta today, June 23 with version 7.0.0746. The clear difference with the F4-425 Plus is that it contains the more powerful N350 Intel CPU released in the first quarter of 2025, with support for DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1, LPDDR5 (4800), DDR5 and DDR4, and a max TDP of just 7W. It also supports AV1 decoding, as well as H.264, VP8, VP9, H.265 (8 bit), and H.265 (10 bit). The different capabilities in the Alder Lake-N (and Twin Lake) series are listed below. Processor E-cores L3-cache Turbo clock GPU GPU-clock TDP Intel N355 8 6 MB 3.9 GHz 32 EUs 1.35 GHz 9 W Intel Core 3 N350 3.9 GHz 1.35 GHz 7 W Intel Core i3-N305 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 9 W Intel Core i3-N300 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz Intel N250 4 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 6 W Intel Processor N200 3.7 GHz 0.75 GHz Intel N150 3.6 GHz 24 EUs 1 GHz Intel N97 1.2 GHz 12 W Intel Processor N100 3.4 GHz 0.75 GHz 6 W The CPU is part of the Alder Lake-N series that sits just below the top N355 offering, albeit with an impressive TDP (less than the N355 and N305) for the features it offers. It is designed for low- powered systems and entry-level laptops. As before, we are seeing another NAS with an acceptable, if not great, amount of RAM. It should be noted that the F4-425 Pro only has one SODIMM slot, so if you are planning to upgrade the already 16GB included in this NAS, it will have to be on one module of Single Rank DDR5. As a reminder, up until a couple of years ago, it was commonplace to only get 2 or 4GB max on a flagship Synology or QNAP home NAS. Ever since the likes of TerraMaster and more have entered the market with ample RAM sizes included in their NAS offerings, it has gone a long way in forcing the hands of the traditional makers to up their game a bit. Before we dive in, you can view the different SKUs released so far since the 2025 series launched for Home and SMB users, with the most important specifications listed along with the MSRP listed below: SKU CPU Cores Memory Link Price F2-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $249.99 F4-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $369.99 F2-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $399.99 F4-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $569.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N305 8 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $699.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N350 8 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $799.99 The F2 in the product name means two 3.5-inch HDD bays, where F4 is four 2.5-inch bays. First impressions Like with the F8 SSD Plus packaging, the F4-425 Pro is using the upgraded box materials, which certainly look better than a plain cream colored box with TERRAMASTER stamped on the sides. The box gives off a premium feel and certainly adds a positive vibe to first impressions. In the box F4-425 Pro TNAS device Power adapter LAN cable (CAT 6) Quick guide [full online guide] Limited warranty notice Screws (for HDD bays) Stickers 2x rubber feet (spares) Design As has become kind of common with TerraMaster, certainly in the last three years, the 2025 F2- and F4-series have received a makeover that really adds to the premium feel of the NAS. Gone are the plastic shells, now replaced with an aluminum outer shell, with the front and back retaining the textured black plastic we saw on the 2024 models. Some key differences from the 2024 series include placing the power button back on the front, along with the addition of a Type A USB port. It's not much bigger or heavier either; in fact, it weighs 500 grams less than the F4-424 Pro. It's slightly shorter in height and depth (length), but only by a few millimeters. The front and back do retain a similar style to the 2024 series. On the front, you just have your four bays along with LED indicators for the HDDs and power. The welcomed change is having a USB port on the front for quick access, should you need to back up a USB drive, for example. Around the back, from top to bottom, you have a reset pin hole, an HDMI port, two 5 GbE Ethernet ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type A ports with a Type-C port below them, and a connector for the barrel port power source. Again, there's no Kensington Security Slot present, which is a bit of a shame considering it's a data storage device. Left side Right side On the left and right of the F4-425 Plus, it is completely smooth aluminum with a TERRAMASTER logo printed on both sides. On the bottom, there are some holes to assist ventilation. Unlike with the F4-425 Plus, the rubber feet did come unstuck during the teardown, which was also an issue on the 2023 series. It seems like other customers have lodged complaints about them, as TerraMaster now includes two spare rubber feet in the box, in case any of the preinstalled ones are lost; however, this seems more like a papering over the cracks solution rather than actually fixing the issue with better quality rubber stand-offs. There are also four screws that must be removed in order to access the internals. Teardown Upon removing the four screws, you can slide the device out of its shell to reveal the three NVMe M.2 slots (PCIe 3.0 X1) and single SODIMM slot connector, which is populated with a single 16GB DDR5 4800MT/s module. I added a couple of MP44Q M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs (2 x 4TB) that can be availed on Amazon for $492.99 that TEAMGROUP supplied us with, along with a 250GB 970 Evo Plus that my colleague Chris White sent me by accident and let me keep a few years ago. As I have said in previous reviews, TerraMaster support staff actually encourage installing whatever you want on their devices, and happily, the USB port for the bootloader is now easily accessible should you want to use it for your own flavor of NAS OS, such as TrueNAS, Unraid, or maybe Xpenology. Yes, because TerraMaster has now switched to a 256 GB NAND Flash card (3rd photo above) for the TOS bootloader. This is also replaceable, but you can also simply add a USB bootloader, access the BIOS, and tell the F4-425 Pro to boot from that instead of the Flash card. Unlike earlier iterations of TerraMaster NAS, you don't have to tear this down any further than the four screws on the outer shell in order to be able to access and manage the memory, NVMe slots, and USB bootloader. However, if you need to access the NAND Flash card or CMOS battery, then eight more screws (four on each side) need to be removed in order to take off the rear panel with the 120mm fan, and then the motherboard can be lifted off and removed from the SATA connector PCB. There's also no risk of threading the screw holes, because the four that hold the shell in place are metal on metal, while the screws that hold the rear panel on do screw into plastic. Either way, like last time when I reviewed the F4-425 plus, I was just happier to see larger screws being used. Overall, it follows some great improvements in build quality from the 2024 series and earlier. Setup BIOS The F4-425 Pro includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to the USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to a USB stick with an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Setup is roughly the same as the F4-425 Plus, along with the new TOS 7 setup dialogs, so there will be no surprises here. Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the F4-425 Pro can be reached by navigating to http://tnas.local. If that doesn't work, you can use the local address assigned via DHCP, which you can find using the TNAS PC desktop application, which is essentially a TerraMaster NAS finder. The setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full below: TOS 7 Initialization As you can see, TOS 7 received a new coat of paint, and the initialization requires fewer interactions. Happily, TOS no longer decides to throw all disks into the same Storage Pool; 2.5-inch HDDs are allocated into Storage Pool 1. This is because two of the HDDs are allocated to hold system files. Previously (with TOS 5 and 6), if you pre-installed HDDs and SSDs, they were all placed into Storage Pool 1, even if you did not select the SSDs for inclusion during the onboarding. TOS 7 Setup On first boot, there is a tutorial and some steps to take to harden the TNAS (or not), which includes an immediate update from TOS 7.0.0616 to 7.0.0706, of which the changelog screenshot is also included in the above gallery. It must be noted that the Security Advisor still contains (in my opinion) a pretty major bug in that if you enable SPC and then do the required rebooting, the Security Advisor still says that SPC is disabled. TerraMaster provided the following statement about it: It is disappointing that TOS 7 has been in beta since December, and this OOBE issue is still there. Shutdown option has moved Instead of a Taskbar option to manage the NAS, all of these options have been moved to a "Start panel", initially I didn't see it and my contact had to show me how to power off the F4-425 Pro. To logout, reboot or power off you can find those controls at the top right of the Panel. It is also possible to power off through the TNAS mobile app beta. Storage setup Above, you can see the steps I took to create the Storage Pools and Volumes. I made a second Storage Pool using TRAID on two 4TB MP44Q SSDs (which, in this instance, is similar to RAID 5), and finally, I added the 250GB 970 Evo Plus drive as Hyper Cache on Storage Pool 1 in Balanced mode. Registering If you decide not to lock down the F4-425 Pro in Security Isolation Mode (blocking all external connections), then you could set up a TNAS device ID through the Remote Access setting in the Control Panel (which must be unique). This works in combination with an online TerraMaster account. TOS 7 TNAS Online Creating a TerraMaster account and linking the device online activates the warranty when you provide proof of purchase and the serial number, but it also gives you access through the TNAS mobile app, which allows you to complete certain operationsб including powering off and restarting the NAS remotely. A TNAS mobile update is required to gain access through TOS 7, and this is provided on the TerraMaster website, as it is not yet on Google Play. The app is evolving all the time and has made leaps and bounds since I first started reviewing TerraMaster devices almost three years ago. It is not quite there yet if you are comparing the likes of Synology, which, sadly, a lot of users online do all the time. OpenClaw setup One of the main selling points of the new F4-425 Pro is the inclusion of OpenClaw, with TerraMaster claiming that it is "powered by the world's first AI-native TOS 7 OS, supporting local-first smart workflows and independent data control." However, I immediately ran into problems trying to enable OpenClaw. After waiting 20 minutes at the "Enabling" message of the OpenClaw app following installation, I decided to do some searching online and discovered that it couldn't complete the installation process due to SPC being enabled, which is something TOS 7 immediately recommends to be enabled on first boot. SPC for NAS (TOS 7) is basically the same principle as UAC in Windows; it blocks executables from being launched by non-Super Users. After reaching out to my contact about these issues, I received the following response: Anyway, this only became clear when I closed the OpenClaw app screen and clicked on the OpenClaw icon in the taskbar; that is when I saw the message about disabling SPC. I think, due to the fact that this is a requirement, this should be a prompt during the installation process, not when closing the App Market and then trying to launch OpenClaw. There's also no 'Getting started' guide for people like me who have never used OpenClaw. I tried to add an LLM and discovered the tutorial led nowhere. That's when I started looking around the official TerraMaster forums, and I found a guide that helpfully explains that you won't get anywhere with OpenClaw unless you have a paid plan, which is disappointing because I imagined there would be an option to use a local LLM as I do in SubtitleEdit with Whisper-XXL. In addition, with the marketing imagery on the official site, it says that the OpenClaw feature is "all processed 100% locally for absolute privacy." which led me to believe that I could install a local LLM, not one that required paid tokens. In any case, TerraMaster does not provide guidance for this new feature, which was also a selling point of the F4-425 Pro! My contact also provided clarification about the above points I raised with TerraMaster Since it is not in the scope of the review to add paid services, I'll leave that to the people who are more qualified with OpenClaw. F4-425 Pro Surveillance App TOS also comes with a Surveillance app, which is not installed by default; it can be found in the App Market recommended section. In addition, after installing, it doesn't drop a shortcut on the Desktop or top taskbar, but you can "Send to Desktop" from the App Market listing for the app for a quick way to open it. Adding my Reolink POE doorbell camera was painless. TerraMaster doesn't appear to have a repository of preconfigured cameras; instead, the camera must be added using ONVIF or RTSP. No mobile Surveillance app TerraMaster still doesn't have a dedicated Surveillance app, although from searching online, Surveillance can be used and managed through the TNAS mobile app. I tried this with the updated TNAS mobile app beta in combination with TOS 7 and got a message that Surveillance was "Only accessible through web browser," so I reckon this must be limited to the stable versions of TOS 6 and the mobile app. More quirks In addition, whenever I minimized the Live View window in the browser Surveillance app, the feed appeared to switch to the Low-bandwidth stream, and there was no way to get the High-quality stream back. To get the High-quality stream back, I had to close Live View and then reopen it. Benchmarking A pretty cool feature of the TOS 7 is that it allows you to install directly to the NVMe M.2 SSD. In order to do that, you would have to leave out any HDDs during initialization, and even then, the system partitions are always written to two HDDs when they are eventually added. With three NVMe slots, this also gives an interesting scenario where you could build a TRAID storage Pool for installing all your apps and Docker on, and keep the third for SSD cache on the HDD pool. Limitless options! SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 5 GbE hub was well within acceptable ranges. Although the read result on SATA was a little less than with the F4-425 Plus, for some reason, while writes were generally better. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. TOS 7, which, as of testing, is still in Beta, comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat, such as Emby, Plex, Docker, as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions. As you can imagine, any media streaming services you would want to host off the F4-425 Pro will work great, thanks to the Intel Core N350 CPU and its 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Accessing from mobile is only possible if Security Isolation Mode is disabled, which can put your NAS at risk from external sources, so there was no way to access it from the TNAS Mobile app. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk for the past week, and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring of the rear fan (which was a little annoying) when the disks were not actively copying or reading data. Conclusion So what have I learned? Unfortunately, this release raises a few important questions and concerns that I feel haven't been adequately addressed. What I didn't like Our variant shipped with TOS 7 beta, and it's advised not to use it in a production environment. I feel that's a bit limiting on an $800 device. The mobile app is also still in beta and does not support some of the first-party apps, like Surveillance, and it still has quite a few bugs. I am a bit confused about the OpenClaw marketing along with the F4-425 Pro. I feel like that if it's going to be a main selling point, then offer official guidance on how to get started with it. TerraMaster recommends enabling SPC, but then markets the NAS for use with OpenClaw, which requires disabling SPC to be able to use it, opening up genuine security concerns for the NAS; and that's before you get into the security concerns of OpenClaw itself. Of course, the above issues won't be a problem if you decide to install something else on it, or even go back to the stable TOS 6. I wish TerraMaster had just given TOS 7 as opt-in rather than shipping with it. TOS 7 has been available as a preview since December 2025 (so well before my last TerraMaster review), and according to a thread on Reddit where a user shared a screenshot from the TerraMaster Facebook page, it is scheduled to launch today, June 23, but there's nothing about that in the TerraMaster news blog. My contact confirmed over email that TOS 7 exits beta today. The rubber feet also deserve a mention as they continue to be a problem, with them coming unstuck the moment you shift the F4-425 Pro anywhere on your desk. What I liked What it comes down to, though, aside from what I already mentioned, you are still getting a quality, affordable device here, so recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a relatively small NAS device to manage virtual machines on, backup your files, and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great device that will certainly futureproof you for some time. It provides good performance, takes up little space, and is, on the whole, very quiet. Four bays afford proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5, and you can even expand on storage capacity by adding the 2-bay D5, or 4-bay D8 Hybrid DAS over a USB 3.2 (10Gbps) link. Considering the 2024 releases were more about power, with the likes of an Intel Core i5-1235U high-end laptop CPU under the hood, I asked my contact last time if we could expect more of the same in higher-end models and was told: It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N350 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the F4-425 Pro is intended for, media streaming and backup. The only downside is still the clear lack of community and even staff support on the official forums. In the past, I have had topics go unanswered for days, or there would be generic-type "we've noted this and passed it onto our developer team" type responses. Along with the other things I mentioned, it all ends up costing it a couple of points. If you are comfortable with the command line, Docker, and setting up TrueNAS or Unraid, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. In TOS, the apps are a bit lacking, and things don't always work as expected.\ AI NAS?! What has become clear to me this year is that we are going to start seeing all kinds of "AI NAS" come to market, and while that might be good for us consumers, be diligent and research these claims. Although the F4-425 Pro technically comes with AI, it is really using a cloud service that is externally sourced off-device through the third party OpenClaw app. My colleague did review a newcomer to the NAS space earlier this year, and it includes a local AI assistant inside the Zettlab D4 NAS, and they do not even use AI in the product name, check out Chris' review here. Where to buy and a discount coupon However, it does not change the fact that this is truly a great entry-level home media-class NAS that you can buy right now. TerraMaster is having a 20% off launch discount, plus you can also still apply our unique 10% off coupon on checkout, which only works on the official website. So here is a breakdown of the pricing that is only valid on the official TerraMaster website. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $575.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $503.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £525.59 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £460.79 Use NEOWIN coupon code during checkout for 10% discount Over on Amazon US and UK, the F4-425 Pro also gets a 20% launch discount, but here, the above 10% coupon cannot be applied. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for $639.99 at Amazon US (was $799.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for $559.99 at Amazon US (was $699.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for £583.99 at Amazon UK (was £729.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for £511.99 at Amazon UK (was £639.99) As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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